Jacen kept out of sight in the dark alley, waiting on the signal that seemed would never come. The operation started out rocky already, questionable due to the increase in military presence. The briefing was leaked, and they were about to be punished for making any mistakes, but they had to continue. They had no choice, or, at least, that's what Serien said. Jacen sighed deeply, gripping the handle of his pistol even tighter due to sheer anxiety.

I hope she makes it in time. I don't know if I can bail her out if she doesn't... I don't know if I can bail myself out. He thought to himself, peeking around the corner to see five police officers spread about the intersection. The car crash has them occupied at the moment, with them scanning the empty smoking wrecks of a half dozen vehicles, pondering with great confusion as to the lack of any drivers. Before their arrival, he managed to escape in the night without being spotted, so things were proceeding as planned so far... And yet he had a lingering doubt... given form of the massive helicarrier dominating the skies above him, its searchlights scouring the city and its many alleyways for those out after curfew.

As one of the floodlights scanned the alleyway that he resided in currently, Jacen reflexively tried to make himself small and as attached to the wall as possible. As it flew by, for a few moments, one could see the sunny brown hair, which proceeded in bangs over the man's forehead and eyes, as well as the bright blue eyes that adorned the fresh-face of the young man that stood there, his lean, athletic figure hugging the wall tightly to avoid detection. His determination and anxiety clearly shown through in his expression as he breathed a sigh of relief when the floodlight passed over him, wondering if it was the black jacket he wore over the dark blue undershirt, blending with the shadows, or, instead, if it was the man controlling the floodlights above him that was too tired to care anymore that someone inhabited the crime scene.

Last edited by Mikhail Azarias on Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:06 am; edited 4 times in total

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Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

Come on already..! Jacen thought with exasperation, getting fairly anxious about the whole affair. The cold wind blew against his face, sending shivers through his body and making it all even more uncomfortable than it was before as he stood there, his back to the wall, just waiting. Then, finally, answering his prayers, a signal came through the comm attached to his left arm. "Strike two, begin operation." The voice called out from the small black box, and Jacen couldn't help but smile in response. "About time." He said, stepping out from cover, his feet practically stomping into the puddles of mud along the streets as he aimed towards the officers.

They reacted more quickly than he anticipated, but it didn't matter. As they turned to aim their weapons upon him, he had already opened fire. Finding the gaps in the armoring that they wore quickly, almost instinctively, the shells from his pistol flew true when he pulled the trigger. Three officers were downed, the rest dove for cover, landing harshly against the ground before popping back up from behind their vehicles to open fire on Jacen. He ducked, shells flying above his head as he continued laying down suppressive fire. His heart raced, his body was tense, and his mind was processing everything at a faster pace than before, allowing him to notice the drones that, even now, were advancing onto him. I think that will do for now. Jacen thought to himself, opening fire on the drones instead as he began to sprint backwards. The street was smooth, and wet, but the tracts of his boots kept him steady. His aim did not falter, and his mind kept pace with the changing accuracy and aim of the officers. "I've got their attention now." He spoke into the comm, ducking for cover within the alley he first emerged from, shells still spraying past him in the street he was in mere seconds earlier.

Last edited by Mikhail Azarias on Sun Oct 19, 2014 11:53 am; edited 1 time in total

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Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

"Come out and surrender, terrorist!" A loud voice demanded from down the street, as Jacen stood back up and placed his back against the wall. He was regaining his breath, the act of speeding up his perception in order to dodge incoming fire being a fairly fatiguing ability of his. He replied to the voice with smugness, "Not on your life, officer!" He jumped back out from around the corner, speeding up his perception of time again and opening fire on the officers once more as he proceeded backwards. Despite the increasing distance, his aim didn't falter, and with every step back on the hard asphalt, he felt as though he were one step closer to succeeding his objective. Even now he heard sirens in the distance, reinforcements, as more officers were being deployed to his position and taken from other locations in the city.

That's right, come and get me. He smiled to himself, hitting and killing another officer and drone, the latter crashing down and detonating upon the street, sending mud and water flying in a large radius around it. He dodged incoming fire and saw the police cruisers and even a black, unmarked car come flying down the road both in front and behind him. He turned as he crouched and as soon as his feet were solidly placed onto the ground, and ceased sliding on the muddy surface, they launched him forward at an incredible speed. He shot into the alleyway and began his evasion part of his new-found enemies. "They even brought in an inquisitor team, I'm impressed." He muttered to himself with some level of surprise in his thoughts.

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Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

Shells flew past Jacen, grazing him as he did his best to weave about in the tight space. Every step echoed loudly as he kept launching himself forward, faster and faster towards the dead-end of the alley. A brick wall, with a path to either side where they were no-doubt waiting for him to turn to. "Sorry to disappoint you." He said, leaping from where he was all the way to the wall ahead of him, a fairly large distance to cover and which left his pursuers directly behind him baffled. He impacted against the wall with a loud thud, cringing from the pain, but otherwise successful in finding footholds for his hands, one upon a loose brick, the other upon the metal bar of a fire-ladder that wasn't deployed. Building up strength again, with shells crashing against the walls around him and spraying fragments of brick and dust, he launched himself upwards and onto the rooftop of the structure.

He rolled to a stop on the hard concrete, swearing under his breath, and then shot back up on his feet. He began sprinting forward again, continuing his retreat. He managed to evade the men below, but now there was just the drones behind and around him. He could hear their advance, the loud humming and, soon, he'd have to either run faster or dodge them. With every thudding step against the concrete below him, he could hear the humming getting louder. I hope this is enough of a distraction for them! He noted to himself with annoyance at their persistence.

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Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

The world around him was suddenly bathed in white light as the helicarrier's floodlights seemed to fix themselves upon him. He hadn't any time to react, and so long as he could see ahead of him, that's all that mattered. He leapt from one concrete surface to another, leaping over air-conditioning units and ducking around roof accesses. All the while the drones behind him peppered the ground around him and before him with shells, each impacting with a thudding. One nearly struck home as Jacen ducked behind a roof access again, changing direction to another neighboring rooftop, this one a story or two lower than the one he stood upon.

Launching himself like he did once before, his feet pounded onto the ground and propelled him forward as he focused. He needed the speed for what he was about to perform. Reaching the edge he leapt again and turned in the air, bringing his gun to bear against the drones. Firing in the air, he downed one by shooting at its wings and sensors, causing it to cut sharply to the left and lose control. Jacen held his hand out above his hand as the earth seemed to be flipped upside down momentarily. His hand made contact with the cold, hard surface of the rooftop as he flipped himself right up again. Bullets buzzed by his head, as he continued his sprint. One down, four to go. He noted to himself, having taken the time beforehand to count.

Last edited by Mikhail Azarias on Sun Oct 19, 2014 11:57 am; edited 1 time in total

_________________________________________________

Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

He ducked into cover beside him, not even taking the time to look at where he was going beforehand, as the barrage of bullets continued ahead of him. They're getting increasingly accurate. He thought, as the floodlight followed him to where he now lay crouched. He jumped back out and opened fire on the nearest drone, the others returning fire almost immediately. Unfortunately, however, Jacen heard a clicking noise soon after he started firing again. His clip was empty and he was out of options. "Shit!" He cursed as a bullet drove itself through his leg before he could dodge it.

He didn't react though, he couldn't afford it. Instead he tossed the pistol at the drone and turned around quickly, jumping to the next rooftop. Landing on the cold, hard concrete, he swore he almost broke his injured leg on the impact, nearly losing his balance. "Damn drones..." He muttered, as they continued opening fire and he proceeded to sprint at as best a pace as he could now. Albeit, that pace was slower than it was before.

_________________________________________________

Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

Things keep going from bad to worse. He thought to himself, as a sharp pain shot up from his leg every time his foot slammed against the rooftop. Up ahead was another jump, but this time he couldn't afford to continue running like this. Eventually he would have to jump off or get pumped full of metal, neither of which he wanted. And with the diminishing amount of available cover, his chances of survival were starting to lessen more and more. To each side were police cruisers and the inquisitors from before, men with black suits and strange weapons in their hands.

"Alright, let's see if you can stop me then." Jacen spoke to himself, as he prepared to jump. The drones, anticipating his movements, shot over him and barred his path, but Jacen didn't stop. As they began firing, he sped up his reflexes and perceptions again to dodge with slight changes in his direction and position. Then, when he reached the edge he didn't make a great, bounding jump. He hopped, instead, and slid down the wall of the building and evaded the drones altogether. Landing with a splash in the muddy puddles of the alleyway, his leg protested with pain again. Pain he had no choice but to ignore if he wanted to survive.

_________________________________________________

Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

"This is Strike Two, proceeding to checkpoint delta. Strike Three, I hope you're ready." He reported into the comm with a tap of his hand on the device strapped to his arm. And without waiting for any reply or confirmation, Jacen took to sprinting again down the alleyway and towards the street. An officer barred his path and ordered him to stop and surrender, but Jacen instead sped up to give the officer no time to react and to close the distance for his response. Stomping forward and replacing his momentum into his clenched fist, Jacen's strike hit true in the upper-gut of the man that barred his path, the resulting transfer of momentum casting the officer several feet backwards and crashing into the nearby cruiser behind him, leaving him to lay unconscious on the wet ground.

_________________________________________________

Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

Jacen didn't stop to be surrounded by the law enforcement officers and continued forward, jumping onto the roof of the police cruiser and then again further onward. Landing on the other side of the street, all the while being shot at by the dozen other officers around him, Jacen continued to sprint and was thankful for the seemingly bad aim that his enemies have had. I'll have to remind myself to thank Reeds a lot if I make it out of this alive. He thought, as he rounded the corner and made one final push onward to make it toward the objective that now lay just ahead of him.

_________________________________________________

Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

It was an unremarkable building, the only one with lights still on and which seemed to be inhabited. That was how he knew the brick, square looking two-story building was the objective, amongst the literal sea of similar appearing structures. With bullets crashing and whirring all around him, he had mere seconds to get there in time and slide underneath the small opening of the garage door on the side of the structure. As he managed it, sliding against the ground that he was thankful, for once, was slick with rain, several bullets continued their chase until they lost sight of their target.

Jacen stood up calmly, the back of his black jacket and simple blue, denim jeans practically saturated with rainwater and mud by this point, but he was still thankful to be alive. Four others stood on the other side of the room, all wielding rifles of different makes and designs, all looking as nondescript as they could with their hooded jackets and masks. "We've got their attention now, so let's give them a show." Jacen said with a sardonic disposition. One of the other men nodded and handed him a spare rifle. "Let's hope Strike One gets it done before we're all riddled with lead..."

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Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

The cold, biting wind blew against Laura's face and exposed hands as she lay perfectly still against the hard concrete surface of the rooftop she was on top of. Her target lay ahead of her, the several-story tall building giving her the height she needed to even get it in her sights. The captain of the helicarrier that was currently stopping their retreat in this city. "Strike Two, begin operation." She heard the signal from her slim, black comm box attached to left arm as she began setting up for the shot.

As she slid the backpack off her black, leather jacket, and set it down gently on the ground, she began to remember the method to reconstructing the rifle. Her small hands unzipped the bag and began rummaging through it, bringing out each piece one by one with her mind reminding her of which one was which, what it does, and where it should attach to.

Her cold, light blue eyes scanned the pieces again when she had them all arrayed in front of her. She began piecing them together, occasionally brushing away a lock of her deep red hair away to keep her vision clear. She made sure to stay low, as the floodlights passed around her. One came near her and her features were visible to the world for a split second. Her figure was small, but well built, thin, but not overly so. She was taller than some, but relatively average. Her face was small and cute, but her expression spoke of an emotionless professionalism, one brought about by years of experience on the field.

She seemed unconcerned about the sudden illumination as, just as quickly as the floodlight appeared, it was locked onto something else some few miles away. She deduced that Jacen had gotten their attention, and that she should quickly prepare to take the shot, as per the plan. She looked up at the massive floating craft against the blackness of the night sky and wondered, for a moment, a ridiculous question. One she suppressed as soon as it came up, and she proceeded to continue.

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Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias

She settled in for a few minutes, gazing through the scope of her rather large and bulky rifle that she patiently reconstructed. The commander she had her aim set on was barking away orders, and with each order it seemed that a dozen or so drones flew off from the deck of the carrier. Aircraft were even being prepared, which actually did not surprise her at all. The commander was likely informed of the importance of their elimination, so all measures are acceptable short of immense civilian casualties. At least, that is as much as she was willing to assume. There were other officers in the way of her aim, preventing her from pulling the trigger, but she was content to sit and wait for a while longer. Jacen would survive, somehow.

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Signatures:

"All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you think people care about you or your commands, you're delusional. You have to make an impact, a legacy to be accountable to. Be the cause of a calamity or a miracle, and then you will become the symbol of the people; A true leader with authority, either through the mutual fear or love of the masses." - Mikhail Azarias